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Obama: Despite ‘tough week,’ country is resilient

President Barack Obama sought Friday to reassure the nation after a “tough week” that included the Boston Marathon bombings, a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas and a manhunt for the terrorism suspect that paralyzed Massachusetts and transfixed the nation for almost 24 hours.

“All in all, this has been a tough week, but we’ve seen the character of our country once more,” Obama said late Friday at the White House. “And as president, I’m confident that we have the courage and the resilience and the spirit to overcome these challenges and to go forward as one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

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Breaking news: Captured

Obama’s remarks came less than 90 minutes after Boston suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was apprehended in Watertown, Mass., after a long manhunt that ended with him hiding out in a boat parked in a backyard. Tsarnaev’s older brother, Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a firefight early Friday as the brothers attempted to escape police.

But already, questions have arisen about the younger man’s arrest, as a Justice Department official confirmed to POLITICO that Tsarnaev was not immediately read his Miranda rights after being apprehended.

“No Miranda warning to be given” now, the official said. “The government will be invoking the public safety exception.”

In addition, a debate broke out among lawmakers, lawyers and political activists over whether Tsarnaev should be prosecuted in a civilian criminal court or subjected to military interrogation, as well as over when and whether Tsarnaev should be told about his right to an attorney.

The questions seem certain to return Obama’s handling of terror cases in the spotlight – a topic that tripped up his administration before, as when the Justice Department had to abandon plans to put 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on trial in lower Manhattan and was accused of failing to properly interrogate the so-called “underwear bomber” immediately after his arrest.

Beginning several hours before Tsarnaev’s capture, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wrote on Twitter that the suspect ought to be placed in military custody.

“If captured, I hope Administration will at least consider holding the Boston suspect as enemy combatant for intelligence gathering purposes,” Graham wrote Friday afternoon. “The last thing we may want to do is read Boston suspect Miranda Rights telling him to ‘remain silent.’”

The Obama administration appeared to be taking a middle course, holding off on advising Tsarnaev of his rights, but still directing him into the criminal justice system for prosecution.